Gladiator ★★★★★

In preparation for the Gladiator sequel I decided to rewatch the original since I barely remembered it, and the rewatch solidifed its place in my personal top ten films of all time. The story follows Maximus as his power is taken away when Commodus comes into charge after Commodus's father (Marcus Aurelius) dies. After narrowly avoiding death, Maximus is enslaved and taken to fight as a Gladiator with hopes to kill those resposinble for destroying his life. The entire film from start to finish is extremely entertaining and emotional, and this is something I didn't expect when I first saw it. The story is done well with great pacing across the run time, and the development of Maximus throughout aides the the progression really well. The cinematography in this film blew my mind considering its release date, and the scenic shots of Rome and the camera work during the action scenes were perfect. The action scenes themselves were done really well and each one had a great sense of danger that kept you invested. There was never a moment (unlike the second film) where I thought that any character was safe, which made the action sequences much more enjoyable especially towards the end. The acting in this film was also something to recognize, as Joaquin Phoenix did an amazing job playing the dangerous and creepy Commodus and of course Russell Crowe killed it at playing Maximus. Maximus's character himself was a marvel to watch as he always stayed true to himself and he is a great character to watch on screen, something I wish more modern movies had. This movie also did an amazing job connecting with the audience by making the characters and story well written and less 'for Hollywood' like other movies set in this time period. Overall, I believe anyone who hasn't seen this film yet needs to watch it immediately as it was definitely a classic and a top ten favorite of mine.